Attempting to recreate the golden yesterdays of Jose Padilla`s White Isle sunsets with the tunes of today. 

Starting with Japan – since that`s the place I call home, and some new stuff. There`s two contrasting hits of Dub and Pop from VIDEOTAPEMUSIC`s Souvenir, on 180g. Definitely check if you dug that Emerson Kitamura E.P. on EM. I have a teaser from Max Essa`s first “Chill Out” long-player proper, Lanterns. Due in July on Music For Dreams. Fairlight sighs, Linn Drum pops, and the hush of sunset / sunrise, Breakfast In Yutenji, takes its name from the Buddhist temple in Nakameguro, and no doubt holds a story. I`ll have to ask Max at Bonobo, on Saturday. For the old stuff you have Lag`s essential reissue of Takashi Kokubo`s Get At The Wave, and Music From Memory`s second volume of Kuniyuki Takahashi`s Early Tape Works. A less “Avant”, more “Easy-Listening” than its predecessor. Taking a few cues from Art Of Noise`s electronic Exotica. 

Heading South to the Australia, and Efficient Space rescue the special Waak Waak Ga Min Min by Waak Waak Djungi. Songs of the Marangu and Malabirr clans. The nature and history of Australia`s Northern Territory put to slightly New Age-y backing. Butter Sessions dust-off Mousse`s Bungalow Classics. Raw analogue House music, but I think the E.P.s deeper moments still work with a sunset, and pre-party cocktail. New Antipodean music comes from Eleventeen Eston, via Germany`s Growing Bin. At The Water is an album of Electro-Acoustic “Techno” constructed on guitars (think John Beltan`s seminal Ten Days Of Blue) and more “organic” ambience.

Germany herself gives us The Sunset Sessions 2, from Blank & Jones. An E.P. of remixes from folks, including Pete Herbert. Worth it for Leo Mas & Fabrice`s take on Good alone. But Coyote turning My Island into “the desirable b-side that Mike Francis never made” comes a very close second. Across the border, into Belgium, and I`ve got the standout, La Pedrera, from Stroom`s Pablo`s Eye retrospective, Spring Break. Seductive global fusion infused with Miles Davis / Chet Baker / Mark Isham cool blue. The big news from Europe is Charles Bals` Club Meduse collection for Spacetalk. Charles` mixtape / love letter to a youth lost to summers spent wide-eyed at Cote D`Azur`s purple dawns. Included here are Macedonia`s Bastion, and Italy`s Ara Macao. The latter`s Roberta Andalò rivalling Anna Domino and Isabelle Antena in the Balearic Pop goddess stakes. Also from Italy, is Tony Esposito`s helicon-ed Veronica Song from Archeo Recordings` RSD release. Hailing from Spain, and therefore, by default, most Balearic of all, is Diamont Danser`s debut, Shapes, on Canoa Snakes Records. Epics for guitar and electronics that pay tribute to Manuel Gottsching. Pieces of introspective counterpoint that evolve like The Orb`s A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld. Overdubbed webs of intricate, complex calm. Sine waves crashing midst the breakers. Swimming the same deep waters as The Cure`s Disintegration. Most overtly on the shorter tracks. The gothic Pentagon, and the “pop-ier” Cube. The UK`s still part of the E.U. for now. Bringing us the bass serenity of Jonah Dan`s Galactic Dub Rock on Bokeh Versions.

 

To The Americas, and South to Brazil for Helio Matheus` Meu Segredo, and Edu Passeto & Gui Tavares` Sabiá Na Palmeira. Sunshine Pop ballads of incredible orchestration – sweeping strings, brass, and acoustic guitars. Sophistication reissued by Athens Of The North and Far Out Recordings, respectively. Then up and over, to the West Coast, and California, for the Blues-y, Soft Rock, Funk of Mudd`s remix of Ned Doheny`s Think Like A Lover. Lifted from Ned`s 1979 LP, Prone. Both available on Be With Records. Heading East, to New York for Arp`s Parallelism. Taken from his forthcoming Zebra, on Mexican Summer. Surely an homage to Midori Takada`s marimba. Adding pianos, synths, and a Kosmishce arpeggiated undertow to her Classical Minimalism. 

 

Then a short flight to Jamaica. The country, not the county. Japan`s Dub Store reissuing Merlyn Brooks` slice of 1974, Geoffrey Chung-produced, string-soaked Soul. Merlyn, huskily making promises in your ear. “You`ll never need somebody, like you need me”. She`s got me believing.  

Track-list

Eleventeen Eston – I Float I Am Free – Growing Bin

Arp – Parallelism – Mexican Summer

Waak Waak Djungi – White Cockatoo – Efficient Space

Max Essa – Breakfast In Yutenji – Music For Dreams

Pablo`s Eye – La Pedrera – Stroom

Bastion – Molitva – Spacetalk

Kuniyuki – Imagination – Music From Memory

Takashi Kokubo – 大海原の呼吸 – LAG

Videotapemusic – Pianica Night Club – 180g

Diamont Danser – Cube – Canoa Snakes Records

Blank & Jones – My Island (Coyote Remix) – Sound Colors

Eleventeen Eston – D`Or – Growing Bin

Pablo`s Eye – Amb 7 – Stroom

Jonah Dan – Galactic Light – Bokeh Versions

Waak Waak Djungi – Djambaku – Efficient Space

Mousse – Afternoon Bloom – Butter Sessions

Tony Esposito – Veronica Song – Archeo Recordings

Ned Dohney – Think Like A Lover (Mudd`s Remix) – Be With Records

Ara Macao – Canyon – Spacetalk

Edu Passeto – Sabia Na Palmeira – Far Out

Helio Matheus – Meu Segredo – Athens Of The North

Merlyn Brooks – You`ll Never Need – Dub Store

Videotapemusic – Slumber Party Girl`s Diary – 180g

Mousse – Bare With Me – Butter Sessions